EXACTLy, Ironically I miss fearing Arsenal and Liverpool, and when Chelsea became a force to deal with. City just… it’s just not the same.

And that Mourinho quote is spot on, but it doesn't mean it's a weak league, cause now we have everton, tottenham challenging and wining big games, + city, arsenal and chelse. As for liverpool, well in the derby it's a tough one, but they can't be looked as challengers.

@Dela: True that - barring City no other fixture is as intimidating as it used to be, and I do miss that in a sado-masochistic way...haha! But I think what still keeps the premier league competitive is that even if we don't have that top-four dynamic any more, on their day the likes of Everton, Norwich, and Wigan (and pretty much any team) can take points off the top clubs...

Fantastic performs though bringing g scholes and gigg's on? Maybe after scoring 5!. Some debating going on here re not scoring g more a d I think it's a fair point. Fantastic win but theses switched off a d concieded. Games like this are where we should up the GD. That's what city did last season. We need to do the same. Different opinions ALL reds . Don't fight amongst ourselves .

I suppose I should be careful what I wish for :-) I just have so many fond memories at this point. Plenty of bad ones too, but with United, when we have a battle to overcome, it feels SO incredible when it happens. That RvP winner last week was a massive moment, there wasn't a United fan on earth who could contain the jubilation, and that's because ever since that game last year that we don't speak of, and then that stupid fucking attempt to not concede there at the end of the season, we needed to show them our power and that was the BEST way we could have done it, to show them that even on their turf, even after shipping 2, we'll still fight for it in injury time with the entire City crowd SURE they were going to get a third... even though it meant as we pushed forward that we were risking exactly that happening... that's why it was a special moment.

But even at that, it still wasn't the same feeling for me as many others from the past.. not that I'm demeaning it. For example, I remember being a teenager, sitting in the pub with my brother and friends... when Jerzy Dudek had that horror moment and gave the ball to Forlan, and how INSANE everyone in the pub went (well, every United fan). Then,. no time at all after sitting down..... FORLAN!!! and suddenly you're 10 ft tall for a split second all over again. Such a magic moment that our fans STILL sing about it. We waited so fucking long for that. It's always nice to shut up scousers :-) They talk soooo much... I'm sure nobody has a problem with me telling them to just STFU, right? :P

What match did you watch? It was a sloppy defending that allowed the goal as Vidic just came in, not because United dropped their performance like you said.

You deleted some of Fergie comments saying that "maybe because Sunderland were trying to push forward". They were trying to push forward but they didn't make it. The game ended 3-1 ffs!! I said that you are stupid, I never say Fergie is. And , how could you using Fergie comments after you slate him and his decisions FFS?? Such an idiot.

@RedRobin: Oh man you're back...sigh...First, I deleted nothing - "picked up the baton" means push forward, but with your intelligence I can see how you missed that...Second my point still stands - even SAF agrees that we were very vulnerable in the last 20 mins. I (and many here) argue its because the changes that we made. You on the other hand are too blind or incompetent to see that we were vulnerable to being scored against in the last 20 mins. I wonder who the idiot is. You can pick what you are, here are your options: blind, incompetent, or plain stupid...Now since you won't stop plaguing me with your idiocy, I think for my own sanity, I'll see myself out. Go read a book or something, someday you might be able to make an intelligent argument worthy of debate...

Long sentences does not make you a genius Mahesh. I still stand with my point, It was not due to United dropping performance. Should United performance was dropping like you said, Sunderland would have scored more. It was 3-1 game.

I pity your genius thoughts. You should read more like you said. LOL genius my ass!

Also - the Sunderland goal had nothing to do with Giggs and Scholes, so stop blaming them, the wings also tailed off second half and so did the defence.

I am getting sick of coming on here are hearing all you whining bitches just complain and acomplain and blame the manager and bitch about this and that

We fckin won. We scored 3 great goals. Vidic is back. Shut the fck up and rejoice. Scholes has been fantastic for us at times this season he has been a key man, Giggs is useful in helping close games out. Do you think you know better than the manager? Fools.

Don't see why Scholes and Giggs are getting stick,if Rooney puts away that sitter in the first would've been a cricket score,the game just fizzled into nothingness.Last 25 mins or so nothing to play for.Pleased to see Young playing well after all the fucking abuse he took on here,why the fuck is Tony V taking stick it's only his second game back after a injury,he didn't play badly even him at 75% makes a huge difference to the team,he brings so much shape and balance to Utd it's not even funny,anyone who can't see that well what can one say
Ice cube why don't you just fuck off you're nothing but a cunt,only show up to criticise,i agree with dela all you cunts whining and moaning after a 3-1 win fucking pathetic

When it was Clev and Carrick the Sunderland midfield was given the run around and passed into oblivion. SHIT. They spent most of their time having Clev zipping past them making runs into the wider areas while Carrick was mopping up their rushed clearances starting attacks.

The second the midfield contained Scholes the Sunderland midfield were given time to play and when Giggs come on they were given the freedom of Old Trafford. They had time to do whatever they wanted.

Don't need a rebuttal the game was already won to single out Scholes and Giggs makes you a tool,fucking idiot analyzing a game that was already in the bag fucking pointless just like the points you seem to want to make

Yeah well they didn't and was never going to just like Liverpool didn't or Newcastle in fact i'd like to know in the history of football how many teams have come back from 3-0, so to make points on hypotheticals makes your analysis even more ridiculous

Bringing off Carrick was an unnecessary risk. As sad as it is, we don't have a plan B for when he goes missing. And it was evident by the amount of possession Sunderland started enjoying and how easily they were cutting open our midfield. Bringing off Carrick was bad enough but bringing off Tom immediately after they scored was even worse. And here's what I don't get. Why didn't Fletcher come on for either player? Is he or isn't he back?

I am not one to hate on any player and unlike some, I've never been hypocritical about it. Like Mahesh said, it's the manager that got the decisions wrong. And yeah they weren't costly, but a similar mindset could very well be down the line.

I'm sure Sir Alex knew the decisions wouldn't be costly,i find people picking apart Sir Alex's decision making when Utd are 3-0 completely absurd.Picking the team apart when they kick into cruise control 3-0 up beyond words.Just how many games in the history of the club have Utd blown a 3-0 lead at home
Honestly half of you fuckers don't enjoy the football not happy unless you can find fault no matter what,just don't fucking understand it

Games come thick and fast now,and no one is better than Fergie at getting the most out of his available squad at christmas. Every decision is made with a thought to getting the most out of the 5 games in 16 days.

@DreadedRed --> God damn right. People forget that Fergie is the proud claimant of 12 EPL trophies.... in the seasons that he didnt win it there's one (or is it two?) where he finished below second. He's the fucking boss. That's why Murinho admits without a problem that he calls Fergie "boss". There's nobody like him. He has seen off opponent after opponent, and i guarantee you he will snatch the trophy from Mancini's grip this season.

Some people here got really angry.. like literally angry... that he wasn't playing Cleverley and Anderson. Then they got their reason why.. unfortunately. Anderson played less than two games and hobbled off injured, and that's fucking horrible, for a guy who has such talent, he can't seem to get any kind of decent run in the team. And Cleverley, he managed to start today but he also had a few scary moments of injuries this season. Now I cross my fingers and hope he stays in the team. Nobody wants either of those guys to succeed more than Alex Ferguson. They're in the team because he wants them in there and for no other reason. Sir Alex is the one who is told the blunt truth by the physios with regard fitness and so on and he analyzes each player every game and training session. Based on that he makes his decisions before every game and the result is.. we're six points clear and we're in the last 16 of the champs league after topping our group after 4 games.

Nobody here feels more annoyed when we concede goals than him. It's his team. His responsibility at the end of the day. He is the fucking BOSS. Had he not walked into the United job in the year of my birth, who the fuck knows what the last 26 years would have been like? I can tell you one thing with a lot of confident though, we wouldn't have won 12 league titles.

I don't understand why folks on here get so defensive about objective critique. The vast majority here are not going to change allegiances whatever happens but they're still entitled to comment on what they see. SAF has been a once in a lifetime manager but it doesn't mean people can't question his decisions. People need to accept that constructive criticism is valid - like critique of bringing on Giggs and Scholes today. What did they bring to the team? Do we have nothing better to call upon than 38/39 year olds (with no disrespect to their marvelous prior contributions)? If not, what does this say about about the youth policy that SAF has built over the last 25 years? To me this is the issue - you can get emotive about individual players but SAF has responsibility for the entire playing side of club and in this sense it doesn't reflect well on him that there is nothing else better to call upon.

Of course Sir Alex is told the truth by physios. And I am pretty sure that he's been aware of how much he can really depend on Anderson, Fletcher and Cleverlery for more than a year now. Why not buy another midfielder then?

@Costas --> He bought Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie in the summer, so I'd say he simply didn't have the funds to make another high profile midfield acquisition. I think Kagawa will be brilliant when he gets back to full fitness and gets used to the pace and physical demand of the premier league.

Its such a shame really because after a few games at the start of last season, we really looked strong in midfield... and well... all over the pitch, but as soon as Cleverley was taken out by that prick davies, and anderson started struggling, it all went downhill very fast.

I too, long for a day when we only seem to suffer long injury layoffs at the same rate as our rivals, and when we can keep a consistent starting 11 for long runs of games. Oh the possibilities! LOL

@ForeverRed --> I don't have a problem with constructive criticism at all, but I do get tired of nothing but negativity as opposed to pointing out anything good, like the fact that we won the game by 2 goals. But ye, I won't go into that again, I already had a long debate with a few users about that on this thread :-)

As for the substitutions. Carrick went off at half time which is highly irregular and would suggest Carrick might have felt a strain or something and Fergie decided "fuck this", i'm not losing you now too and told Paul Scholes to get ready. Later on, the substitution of Rio for Vidic was just to get the Serb back onto the pitch FINALLY, give him some time. As for Cleverley for Giggs, it's not a secret that Tom has some fitness problems, he came off a couple of times in the last few games to injury, and with Ando already out, I think it was just a calculated risk from Fergie. Games coming thick and fast over the next few weeks, we can do without injuries right now. Why he didn't bring on Fletcher instead though I don't know, maybe he was thinking of the next game in case Carrick might not make it and Fletch will replace him? There was no other midfielder on the bench.

Michael Carrick - Tom Cleverley ... started versus Sunderland.
OK
We need other players to replace them because they will become fatigued.
OK
We know Anderson is injured but where is Fletcher ?.

The want and need to reply on long past their best legends who simply cannot compete anymore is fucking astounding. They couldn't compete with a Sunderland midfield that was given the run around for over an hour before they came on.